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Help - Pregnant in an unknown location!

Hi ALl,

I have am reposting this here form my cycle budy chat to see if anyone else has had this or heard of this before.

I am so confused and dont feel i can take this much more. After my BFP i started bleeding heavily. Assumed a miscarriage and cried for over a week. When i re tested a week later as instructed my test was still positive.

I already had my 6 week booked in for the next day so decided to go anyway and explain everything. They couldnt find any sign of a baby at all but as i still tested positive they were then worried about an ectopic pregnancy. I had to have a blood HCG test which came back around 200. They said it was pretty high and i had to go back yesterday for another scan and tests. We were gutted as it meant cancelling our much needed and long awaited holiday.

I went back yesterday and again the scan was totally clear. They took my HCG levels and said they would call me with results but all looked okay. We went home and quickily looked up flights and planned our escape whilst waiting for the call. They then phoned and told me i had to get back to the hospital within the hour for an emergency scan at the EPU.

When i went for the scan they told me my levels had gone from 200 on Monday to 518 yesterday. They scanned me but again couldnt find anything. They have now told me i am pregnant in an unknown location!!!!!!!! This basically means it is one of 3 things:
1) Miscarriage
2) Ectopic Preganancy that has not appeared on scans yet
3) Viable pregnancy in my uterus that has not appeared on scan yet.

I just dont know what to think, they sent me home with instructions to go back Friday for another test and scan. They said if my leves double again they will be desperate to find out where this pregnancy is. I am still bleeding and so confused. They said sometimes in IVF it can show up much later than anticipated on a scan as they can implant later.

So sorry about the rollercoaster you are on - sounds devastating. I am afraid I will not be much help just did not want to read and run. The doubling of the HCG levels gives me a ray of hope if the clinic said such a late implantation is possible. When did you have your ET at what stage embryo or embryos? Could you have two embryos one implanting early giving you BFP and then bleed and one implanting now?

It sounds awful to delay your much needed holiday but if it is bad news you don't want to risk your health and if it is good news well you won't care then :-)

I will keep cheking back on your thread and really hope a miracle is happening here. And also hope you can still have your holiday a bit later.

post-3:
On my last (successful) IVF my first beta at 12dp3dt was 4.3!!! Two days later it was 17. Then a few days after that it was 102. Not high by any stretch of the imagination, but doubling! My clinic said the SAME thing...abnormal, 90% chance it won't make it, likely ectopic. Well, they were WRONG! Today I have the pleasure of watching my gorgeous little 15 month old boy. I am now gearing up for an FET and now know that even if my beta is low, it DOES NOT mean the game is over. Keep faith, that is all we have in this situation!

post-5:When you received the original beta of 4.3 did your clinic tell you it was a negative result and that you are not pg? . Yes. Anything below 5 is considered a negative at my clinic, but I had to retest in 2 days to be certain my level fell to zero.

Did they tell you to stop your meds? Yes, however I asked my RE if there was any harm in continuing to take the meds for a few more days. He assured me there wasn't and so I continued the meds.

At what point in your pg were you able to see the baby via u/s and the heartbeat? How many weeks along?
What was your HCG level at?. I do not know what my HCG level was once we did the ultrasound. I was 7 weeks and 2 days I believe before my doctor would even schedule an U/S. At that point we saw the gestational sac and baby with a VERY faint flicker of a heartbeat.

Yes, my baby measured anywhere from 1 week and 2 days small to just 3 days behind. I never measured on time or ahead of gestation.

Also, did you bleed at all in the early stages of your pregnancy?

I did bleed early in my pregnancy. I was eventually diagnosed with a subchorionic bleed, but it did not affect the baby. At one point I was sure I was miscarrying as I
had a very heavy flow and it was bright red. I never had the cramping though.
I also found that implantation can be as late as 10 days after EC and HCG levels are still ok if in the range of 18 - 7,340 mIU/ml around 3 weeks after implantation (it said 5 weeks after LMP but I assumed with late implantation it might be different - but i can be wrong)

Hope it gives you some hope!

xxx Rianon

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "rianon" (Aug 9th 2012, 8:56am)

Secondly the levels are too low at the moment to see anything on a scan so that is perfectly normal. It doesn't mean anything is wrong just that it's too early.

Thirdly bleeding does not always mean the end. It could be for a variety of reasons.

When I got pg with my now 5 month old I had a beta test that came out at 131 and I remember the nurse saying to me oh that's low and it will all depend on the next one and that will have to triple. I researched myself and it wasn't low and it only had to go up by 66% not 300%. So things are not an exact science. We don't know when the embryo implanted, how many implanted.

Please stay positive cause I have learnt over the last four years that no amount of worry will change the outcome and to take each day at a time.

Hi,
I'm sorry you have this worry. To be honest they won't be able to see much till your hcg is about 1000.
If they think it's ectopic they would monitor you closely, but if you have pain ring them.
Hopefully it will be ok. Keeping everything crossed for you x

Oh Laura I've just stumbled across this after wondering about your outcome. I'm so sorry hun I hope you're taking time out for yourself before you jump back on the roller-coaster. Wishing you much luck for the future - 3rd time lucky